George Ovey Movies

An unusually disturbing noir from a director better known for more mainstream fare like High Noon and From Here to Eternity, Act of Violence focuses on a WWII veteran haunted by his past. A film that was close to the director's heart, he said that it represented "the first time that I felt confident that I knew what I was doing and why I was doing it." Van Heflin stars as Frank Enley, a contractor living a peaceful life in a small California town, when Joe Parkson, a man who served in the army with him, arrives in the area, intent on killing him. He follows Frank to a lake where he's fishing but is unable to kill him. When a lakeside bartender tells Frank that a man with a limp is looking for him, Frank is frightened, realizing why he has come. He tells his wife, Edith (Janet Leigh), that Joe is a man who spent time with in a Nazi POW camp, who is now mentally ill, and that he intends to avoid him. When Frank goes to Los Angeles for a business convention, Joe arrives at his house and tells his wife that her husband is responsible for his injury and for the deaths of a number of men. Fearing for her husband's life, Edith heads for L.A. with Joe not far behind. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

If Edward G. Robinson thought he'd get away from tough-guy roles by moving from Warners to MGM, he was sorely mistaken. Robinson plays the editor of a 1920s tabloid newspaper, compelled to accept financial aid from a gangster (Edward Arnold). Defying his "unholy partner," Robinson adopts an editorial stance in direct opposition to the gangster's activities. The crook is less upset by this than by the fact that Robinson's star reporter (William T. Orr) is romantically interested in the crook's girlfriend (Marsha Hunt). When Robinson tries to expose the gangster's insurance racket, the young reporter is kidnapped. Robinson kills the crook, then covers his tracks in noble fashion by participating in a suicidal airplane test flight. Unholy Partners manages to keep its multitude of plot threads in order, resulting in one of Edward G. Robinson's most solid vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Number ten in MGM's heart-warming (and immensely profitable) "Andy Hardy" series was the 1941 entry Life Begins for Andy Hardy. Upon his graduation from high school, Andy (Mickey Rooney) decides to seek his fortune in New York City without benefit of a college education, much to the consternation of his father Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone). Moving to the Big Apple, Andy lands a job in a stockbroker's office, where he falls in love (at least he thinks it's love) with fickle telephone operator Jennitt Hicks (Patricia Dane). Alas, Andy is unable to cope with life in the fast lane, but it takes the combined efforts of his father and his hometown sweetie Betsy Booth (Judy Garland) to convince him of this fact. For reasons that defy logic, each of Judy Garland's four songs in Life Begins for Andy Hardy were cut from the final release print. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his starring film for Universal Pictures, W.C. Fields plays circus manager and all-around flim flam man Larson E. Whipsnade. When he's not trying to fleece the customers or elude the sheriff, Whipsnade busys himself trying to break up the romance between his daughter Vicky (Constance Moore) and carnival ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (playing himself). He also carries on a running feud with Bergen's nattily attired dummy Charlie McCarthy ("I'll slash you into venetian blinds!"). Bergen's other dummy is Mortimer Snerd, who occasionally comments upon the action in his own thickheaded fashion. Anxious to arrange a marriage between Vicki and the wealthy Roger Bel-Goodie III (James Bush), Whipsnade disposes of Bergen and his dummies by sending them aloft in a hot-air baloon. Attending a party at the Bel-Goodie mansion, Whipsnade makes a pest of himself by constantly referring to snakes, a subject that invariably causes Mrs. Bel-Goodie (Mary Forbes) to swoon. He also engages in a zany ping-pong tournament with socialite Ronnie (Ivan Lebedeff). But it is Vicki, and not Whipsnade, who breaks up the engagement by telling off her pompous fiance. At that very instant, Bergen, having escaped from the balloon, arrives to claim Vicki and to help Whipsnade escape the sheriff once more. A partial remake of the W.C. Fields silent Two Flaming Youths, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man was scripted by Fields under the pseudonym "Charles Bogle." As published in the 1973 compendium W.C. Fields by Himself, the original screenplay was to have had dramatic overtones, including the death of Fields' trapeze-artist wife and a climactic soul-baring scene wherein Fields expresses his genuine love for his daughter. All this was jettisoned when it was decided to capitalize on the Fields-Charlie McCarthy "feud" then blazing on radio's Chase and Sanborn Show. While nowhere near as funny as Fields' subsequent Universal feature The Bank Dick, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man still contains a generous supply of laughs. Our favorite line: "Somebody's taken the cork out of my lunch." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Despite the title, the plot of Young Fugitives is carried by an oldster. Civil war veterans Harry Davenport and Clem Bevans save a nest egg of $50,000. When Bevans dies, Davenport sets out to find Bevans' son and heir Robert Wilcox. The younger man proves to be a wastrel and cheat, but Davenport decides to reform him. Dorothea Kent, in a brief respite from dumb-blonde roles, plays Wilcox's girl friend. Young Fugitives is based on a short story by Edward James. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Girl with Ideas was Universal Pictures' version of MGM's matchless Libeled Lady. Wendy Barrie plays a society girl miffed at the bad press she's been getting in a local newspaper. Unable to convince publisher Walter Pidgeon to cease and desist, Barrie takes her case to court. She wins not only the case but the newspaper itself, whereupon Pidgeon uses his sneakiest journalistic wiles to force new editor Kent Taylor into bankruptcy. Though plainly derivative of earlier heiress vs. editor epics, Girl with Ideas was praised for its originality by contemporary critics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gail Patrick plays a young woman framed for murder. Luckily the newsman on the courtroom beat is ace photographer Lew Ayres. He senses Patrick is innocent (the fact that she's a knockout has something to do with this) and vows to track down the guilty party. The Least Likely Suspect spills the beans just as Ayres clicks his shutter. Paramount Pictures used to dash off two or three B mysteries like Murder with Pictures before breakfast, but they were never less than supremely entertaining. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This star-laden version of Lewis Carroll's novel combines elements of both the title novel and Carroll's sequel, Through the Looking Glass. In England of the 19th century, young Alice finds that the mirror over the library fireplace opens into a strange world. She has odd adventures and changes size several times both before and after she follows a time-obsessed White Rabbit (Skeets Gallagher). Soaked after nearly drowning in a pool of tears, Alice is helped to dry off by a Dodo (Polly Moran), and encounters a caterpillar (Ned Sparks), whose mushroom also changes Alice's size. In a noisy home where the Cook (Lillian Harmer) and the Duchess (Alison Skipworth) are always fighting, Alice takes care of the Duchess' baby, but it turns into a pig and runs away. Asking directions of the Cheshire Cat (Richard Arlen) is no help, and a tea party with the Mad Hatter (Edward Everett Horton), the March Hare (Charlie Ruggles) and the Dormouse (Jackie Searl) is confusing and annoying.

Alice meets the Queen of Hearts (May Robson), and encounters the Duchess again; while strolling with her, Alice meets the Gryphon (William Austin) and the Mock Turtle (Cary Grant). The twins Tweedledum (Jack Oakie) and Tweedledee (Roscoe Karns) recite a poem about a Walrus and a Carpenter (seen as an animated cartoon), but when they decide to go to battle, they're chased off by a crow. Humpty Dumpty (W.C. Fields) relates the poem "Jabberwocky" to Alice, then falls off a wall and breaks. The mournful White Knight (Gary Cooper), unable to put Humpty Dumpty together again, escorts Alice for a while, but she tumbles down a hill and finds she's become a queen. At a party in Alice's honor, the Red Queen (Edna Mae Oliver) becomes furious at Alice, who then wakes up to find herself in the library, with her kitten Dinah in her lap. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

Made in the final years of director John S. Robertson's career, Night Ride is a crime drama starring Joseph Schildkraut as Joe Rooker, a reporter who finds himself pulled away from his wedding reception to cover a bank robbery. When he figures out that the robber is gang leader Tony Garotta (Edward G. Robinson), Rooker makes a case proving so and files his story. In retaliation, Garotta kidnaps him and another reporter with plans of permanently disposing of them and falsely tells the newlywed that he has bombed his house and killed his new wife, Ruth (Barbara Kent). If the police can't get there in time to save him, Rooker will die, never knowing that his wife was alive the whole time. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

One of the most readily available features of the silent era, The Yankee Clipper is happily also one of the best. A pre-Hopalong Cassidy William Boyd plays Hal Winslow, the scion of a prominent Boston shipbuilding family. Manning the helm of the Yankee Clipper, Winslow prepares to race The Lord of the Isles, a British vessel; the winner will control China's tea trade to America. The race begins at Foo Chow Harbor, where Winslow is paid a courtesy visit by Lady Jocelyn (played by Elinor Fair, then the wife of star Boyd), the daughter of the rival English captain. Lady Jocelyn is escorted by her fiance Paul de Vigny (John Miljan), whom we will learn in due time is a cad and bounder. The Yankee Clipper shoves off while Lady Jocelyn and de Vigny are still on board. They demand to be put ashore, but Winslow, anxious not to lose any sailing time, refuses. Lady Jocelyn's presence on board is resented by cabin boy Mickey (Junior Coghlan), who hates all "wimmin"; on the other head, crew member Iron Head Joe (Walter Long), "mongrel whelp of the high seas", begins drawing up plans to rape the girl at the first opportunity. An outsized typhoon imperils the Yankee Clipper, its crew and passengers, but stalwart Captain Winslow manages to save everyone from drowning. After the storm, the water supply is rationed. Angrily demanding more water, the crew joins a mutiny fomented by the treacherous de Vigny. Meanwhile, Iron Head Joe chases Jocelyn and Mickey to the very top of the rigging, intending to kill the boy and have his way with the girl. Both of the film's villains are foiled in very permanent fashion before the thrill-packed finale at Boston Harbor. One of the videocassette versions of The Yankee Clipper is introduced by surviving cast member Junior Coghlan, now better known as Frank Coghlan Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

German-born William Wyler began his long, eventful directorial career helming Fred Gilman Western 2-reelers at Universal. Graduating to feature Westerns, Wyler directed both Fred Humes and Ted Wells. Desert Dust was the second of three Wells Westerns for Wyler, a breezy oater about a reform-school kid who must prove his real worth in order to win the heart a state senator's lovely daughter (Lotus Thompson). Wyler considered it a move upwards when he left the Wells unit in favor of Fred Humes. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Yet another amiable Hoot Gibson western in which the somewhat bumbling star is caught up in, of all things, a Chinese Tong war in San Francisco. Soon enough he is falsely accused of a crime and must hightail it back to Arizona, accompanied along the way by the children (Jackie Morgan, Turner Savage and Billy Kent Schaeffer) of his friend (comic sidekick George Ovey). The foursome hides out at the ranch of Col. Savery (Emmett King) until Gibson manages to win first prize in a sweepstakes and eventually saves the colonel from foreclosure and clear his own name. Always more at ease with comedy than heavy dramatics, Gibson is this time dangerously close to being upstaged by three adorable tots. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide